Created as part of a restructure in 2016, Rottigni’s new department of Global Corporate Direction looks after 2,000 corporates and around 14,000 SMEs with a combined turnover in excess of €350 million.

“Our aim is to go out and find what our clients need, to anticipate what is happening in their sector, to help them grow and be a true partner to them,” he says. “I imagine us all around a large table, with the client always positioned at the centre.”

Key to this incisive approach, he explains, is the division’s organisation by industry. This allows it to maximise synergies between the needs of corporate clients and the opportunities afforded through Intesa Sanpaolo’s investment banking arm, Banca IMI.

“We need the skills and the technology, the ability both to follow the right rules and be disruptive. We must be courageous and curious”

A head of industry leads each sector, working with the senior origination banker and the team tasked with designing the product for each client. “Their job is to promote curiosity and ideas,” says Rottigni.

These are “transformed into real opportunities” by execution colleagues. Global relationship managers (GRMs) and teams of business analysts manage coverage across the bank’s international network.

“All this reflects the tendencies of the industry – complete with variables – the general trends and the needs of the client,” he continues. “Our coverage colleagues provide the entry point, but there is a tight chain of professionals,” explains Rottigni. “We offer our clients all our skills, competencies and services, all of the bank.”

The outlook, he says, is a long-term one. “We value our relationships and we want our clients to stay with us. This governs how we work.”

“The ultimate goal for all of us is always to have a horizontal perspective on the client’s activities. We work towards a common goal,” says Rottigni. “We push the concept of team to the extreme. That’s why working together with Banca IMI is so important. Thanks to the offers provided by Banca IMI and the fundamental teamwork between the product specialists and industry specialists, we can achieve our best goals.”

This, he believes, provides clients with real value as part of a service.

“We believe fundamentally in the validity of industrial characteristics. We have people studying the sector, travelling the world, identifying and understanding cycles, developments and trends, updating the client constantly. We are there 365 days a year and it is a personalised service.”

Assisting clients to develop internationally is the most pressing goal for the department, says Rottigni. Already well established as Italy’s largest domestic bank, Intesa Sanpaolo’s rapidly expanding global network is helping companies from across the country’s industrial spectrum find new markets beyond its borders. “Italy is rich in individual intelligence. We need to build and share this.”

He credits the department’s structure with allowing the bank to punch above its weight on behalf of clients. “Within this matrix I believe there is opportunity for each industry in each geographic area if we target our operations well,” he says. “We position ourselves to take best advantage of our structure, trying to participate in the biggest deals, the biggest syndications around the world.”

Among recent deals involving the department Rottigni cites the Bayer-Monsanto merger and major acquisitions by Dell, JAB Holding Company and Japan’s SoftBank. “These are operations born out of the co-operation across the bank and across industries. They position us in a truly international sphere,” he says, highlighting Intesa Sanpaolo’s sector knowledge in key geographic areas.

“In London, we have GRMs expert in telecom and media, in Frankfurt it is automotive and mechanics; in Madrid it is energy and infrastructure, in New York, consumer and so on,” he explains. “We have GRMs for each industry in each of the most important markets.”

The banking industry has changed since Rottigni – now 55 – joined it 25 years ago. Few of the old certainties remain, which is why he believes it is vital to adopt this targeted, internationally wide-ranging approach with a talented team to deliver it.

“We need the skills and the technology, the ability both to follow the right rules and be disruptive. We must be courageous and curious.”